Tag: Basketball

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — NBA commissioner Adam Silver presided over his second NBA Draft last night at Barclays Center and spent every five minutes or so helping NBA dreams come true for some of the most talented young basketball players on the planet. Just a few months later, Panini America will continue that dream by releasing the first NBA-licensed Rookie Cards of last night’s picks inside 2015-16 NBA Hoops Basketball.

And if you weren’t keeping up with the Panini America Twitter and Instagram feeds last night, well, you missed out on the Panini America #HoopsRookie reveal, a real-time unveiling of the top picks’ 2015-16 NBA Hoops Basketball Rookie Cards. It started just minutes after No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves and lasted until the wee hours of Friday morning, until we could properly celebrate that Rakeem Christmas gift of a jacket following the big man’s trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Panini America’s colorful, Prizm-infused Spectra brand has wasted precious little time in etching out a loyal following among hardhcore hoops collectors. In fact, with just one inaugural release last season, Spectra Basketball became a bona fide favorite — as much for its perfect-for-Prizm designs as for its rich autograph and memorabilia content. When the second installment arrives next week, collectors will revel in the fact that the brand has only improved with age.

2014-15 Spectra Basketball releases one week from today and will deliver seven autograph or memorabilia cards in every box. The product this year also has been bolstered by the addition of Global Icons, a one-per-case chase insert that showcases some of the game’s greatest international players. After the jump, you can discover a little bit of everything else the product has to offer.

Early last Friday morning, Panini America officials began the packout process for 2014-15 Immaculate Basketball, easily one of this season’s most anticipated releases across all sports. Bolstered by the fascinating return of Sneak Peek, a spectacularly stacked autograph roster and some of the sickest memorabilia cards you’ll ever see, this year’s Immaculate is seemingly equipped to be the best iteration in the brand’s short-but-proud history.

Now that NBC has locked up television rights for the Olympics through 2032, the NBA league contract that expires in two years is basically the only major sports rights package available before 2020. That means the NBA has a strong negotiating position in the marketplace as its television contract gets close to an expiration date.

“The NBA’s television contract is coming up at a favorable time in the cycle,” said Marc Ganis, president of Sports Corp Limited, noting that professional football, baseball, and hockey, as well as college football, all signed new long-term national television rights deals in recent years. “There are more networks in the marketplace that need NBA games than will get them.”

“This year, 48 players were selected from 2,500 nominees by a committee of basketball experts. They were chosen not only for their on-court skills, but for their performances off the court as well. Coach Morgan Wootten, who had more than 1,200 wins as head basketball coach at DeMatha High, is chairman of the selection committee. Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, who has been involved in the McDonald’s All American Games since its inception, serves as chairman of the Games and as an advisor to the selection committee.”

“Grizzlies majority owner Michael Heisley will take steps to cancel the proposed sale of the team to an investment group led by ex-Duke star Brian Davis, a league source familiar with the deal told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.”